In addition to photos of factories and work samples, now suppliers can add a video to their profile pages. Video is a great way to start building trust through transparency, right from the start. Suppliers can use video to add a factory tour or a reel of spotlight samples. Adding a profile video is simple. Just copy and paste a link of an existing video in the Photos and video section of the Profile Manager.
Reorders don’t require new proofs: Reorders no longer require a new proof to be approved, as long as the order is placed with the same facility location as the initial order. When a customer reorders an item with a valid quote, you’ll receive the order with the initial proof already attached. When you click to accept the order, you’re agreeing to move forward with the production, and an invoice will automatically be sent to the customer.
Completed orders close automatically: Orders will close automatically after you mark all items on an order as fulfilled and the items are marked as delivered or picked up by you or the customer.
Editing quotes: Now, quotes can be edited if they're a Draft, Open, or Submitted. Expiration dates on quotes are also editable after they’ve been submitted or ordered.
Sort by manufacturing location in orders view: With the new “Manufacturing Location” column, you can easily sort your Orders view by facility. To sort by a column, click on the column header name.
No more signatures on messages: When you reply to a message thread via email, you'll no longer see email signatures when you view that message thread in the platform.
Whether you're a buyer or supplier, now you can reply to messages directly from your email inbox 🎉
When you receive an email notification about a message in Lumi, now you can reply directly to that email notification. Your reply will be sent to collaborators on that quote or order, and will also be visible in Lumi.
Email responses work with attachments too! This makes it easier than ever to keep conversations moving while you're on the go, from your phone or any other device that you use for email.
Each notification also includes a link back to the conversation in Lumi, so you can quickly access all the documents and history.
As your team grows and changes, Lumi remains your source of truth across manufacturing projects. All messages — whether they're sent via email or in the platform — are available in Lumi, not siloed in inboxes.
The new version of Lumi for Suppliers brings a host of big improvements to help you tailor opportunity notifications, customize your profile page to receive more customers, and track the status of payments. Let's jump right in.
You can now tailor Marketplace opportunity notifications with two new options in your Notifications settings:
The new Profile Manager allows you to edit the profile pages for your locations. Completing your profile page helps customers find you, and build trust in your capabilities. You can now easily add:
The new Billing view brings all your invoices and customer payments into one convenient location. Now you can:
In addition, we've made it easier to reconcile your payouts by adding metadata to payments in Stripe. Each payment will now include all the reference information you need to match payouts to unique IDs for POs, invoices, and customers.
It's now possible to request quotes for multiple items at the same time!
When you create a quote request, you can now add as many items as you want. A multi-item request is useful for quoting items that will be produced together, for products that come in multiple sizes, flavors, colors, etc. You can also use multi-item quotes for packaging that contains multiple sub-components like inner boxes and inserts.
Suppliers will see a multi-item quote request if all the items included match their capabilities. As you add items you'll see how many suppliers can offer all of the items in one quote.
Additionally, we've made it easier to compare quotes between different items and suppliers at a glance from the quote request page.
We're making it easier to start using Lumi! You can now create an account on Lumi for free to set up your packaging specs and suppliers.
This makes it easier for you and your team to work through the initial design phase. Once you're ready to request quotes, you can upgrade to a paid plan. Purchase orders and analytics also require a subscription.
For packaging agencies, this means you can now deliver designs, specifications, dielines and supplier recommendations to your clients on Lumi at no cost.
Lumi now supports easily switching between company accounts. For Experts, this means you can now easily help multiple clients that use Lumi.
If your company has several independent teams (e.g. Operations and Marketing), or subsidiaries each using a separate Lumi account, you can now easily switch between them.
This release includes big improvements to the quoting workflow for brands and suppliers on the new Lumi Platform. We've also added new capabilities for managing and tracking orders.
We’re excited to introduce you to our first Lumi Experts. Lumi Experts is a partnership program for packaging experts (agencies and individuals) that also know their way around the Lumi Platform. Brands can work with experts in-platform for a more streamlined packaging supply chain from end-to-end.
Some of our launch partners include agencies such as Ferroconcrete, Doris Dev, Fuzzco, Atlason, Guacamole Airplane, The Office of Ordinary Things and Ludlow Kingsley who are behind some of the most innovative and sustainable packaging in the world.
Lumi members can work with Lumi Experts on any of the following types of projects:
To start working with a Lumi Expert:
Big day! We're so excited to share with you one of our biggest releases to date.
With Lumi Search finding the right suppliers and products is now easier than ever, and we've made it free for anyone to use!
If you're a paying member, you can also access these extra features:
We're opening up the new version of Lumi to beta users — sign up here. If you are an existing customer and would like to join the beta, contact us. We'll be making these new features available to all users over the next few months.
To help you learn how to use these new features we've created the Operating Manual, searchable guides on how to use the Lumi Platform to source sustainable packaging and manage your supply chain. We'll be adding to it frequently, so let us know if you see anything missing!
Lumi is now part of the Amazon Packaging Support and Supplier Network (APASS). Lumi Membership gives you access to Experts that can help you engineer packaging that meets Amazon's packaging standards.
Amazon launched their Frustration-Free Packaging Program (FFP) in 2008 to cut down on packaging waste and shipping cost. In 2019, they started enforcing these guidelines with third-party sellers. Now, packages larger than 18" x 14" x 8" or heavier than 20 lbs are required to meet Amazon's FFP guidelines, otherwise companies are fined $1.99 per shipment.
To get your packaging Amazon Certified, Lumi can help you access ISTA 6-certified labs to test and certify your packaging under any of Amazon's three packaging tiers:
Lumi members can request Amazon certification through Expert Services.
On Earth Day 2019, we launched the Lumi Sustainability Framework. Each property in the framework defines attributes for your packaging with supporting data and research. Companies use the framework to prioritize their sustainability efforts and help their teams make sustainable choices more rapidly. You can read more about these new properties on the blog.
This year, we added seven new properties, giving you a total of 20 ways to measurably reduce the environmental impact of your packaging. Here's what's new:
See how companies are using these new properties on the blog.
